1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a graphics system, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for enhancing the graphics capability of a mobile computing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this first portion are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A computer system such as a desktop computer or a laptop computer typically includes peripheral devices such as a graphics card dedicated to the rendering of images. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus has been adopted by the industry as the standard bus interface for coupling the graphics card to the computer system.
For a desktop computer, a number of PCIe slots are typically supported to receive multiple PCIe peripheral devices. The standardized dimension for a PCIe graphics card is 311 mm (length) by 106 mm (width). A PCIe graphics card with this dimension is acceptable in the desktop computer, since the accessibility of the components inside the desktop computer is generally considered more important than the miniaturization of the components. However, a PCIe graphics card with this dimension can only be used in a desktop computer. For a laptop computer, such a PCIe graphics card with the standardized dimension needs to be reduced considerably to be able to fit into the laptop computer.
Currently, a mobile PCIe module has been developed to enable the implementation of a graphics subsystem in a laptop computer. Specifically, the mobile PCIe module is essentially a reduced size graphics card with the standardized dimension ranging from 68-117 mm (length) by 70-82 mm (width). The mobile PCIe module is coupled to the motherboard of the laptop computer through an edge connector at the integration sites. The mobile PCIe module includes a card-edge connector with plated contacts and is received by the PCIe compatible interface connector supported by the motherboard of the laptop computer. One of the most popular types of PCIe compatible interface connector is a Low Insertion Force (LIF) angled entry surface mount connector. The mobile PCIe module can be inserted to the LIF connector by placing the mobile PCIe module at a 20 to 30 degree angle, rotating the module towards the motherboard, and then fastening the module into mechanical mounting stand-offs at the integration sites.
However, this kind of insertion method presents one notable shortcoming. Due to the limited space on the motherboard of a laptop computer, placing more than one mobile PCIe module, each at an angle, is difficult. In addition, the laptop computer needs to be powered off and often physically opened up before the insertion of the mobile PCIe module can take place. In other words, there lacks a simple way to enhance the graphics capability of the laptop computer.
Moreover, if somehow more than one mobile PCIe module is included on the motherboard of a conventional laptop computer, then there needs to be a mechanism to intelligently manage the power consumption of the added mobile PCIe modules, which can consume significant amount of power.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed is a method and device capable of enhancing the graphics capability of a mobile computing device and addresses at least the problems set forth above.